Justice Geeta Mittal will be the new Chief Justice of J-K High Court, while Justice Sindhu Sharma has been appointed as a judge
Established in 1928 by the then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, the J-K High Court never had a woman chief justice or judge until now.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has broken the jinx of being a court where all judges are male. For the first time in 90 years, the J-K High Court has not only got its first woman judge but also the first woman chief justice. Justice Geeta Mittal will be the new Chief Justice of J-K High Court, and Justice Sindhu Sharma has been appointed as a judge.
While the posting of Justice Geeta Mittal, acting chief justice of the Delhi High Court, was already cleared, the appointment of local lawyer Sindhu Sharma as a judge was made on Friday.
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Ever since its inception in 1928 by the then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, the J-K High Court never had a woman chief justice or a judge. It is for the first time in the history of the court with an approved strength of 17 judges that not one but two judges are women.
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Sindhu Sharma’s father OP Sharma is a retired High Court judge and she has become the first women from J&K to become a judge. Before being appointed as a judge, she was an assistant solicitor general.
Several women from the state have made a name as practising lawyers but none of them had so far been appointed as a judge.
Prior to 1928, Hari Singh as the monarch used to himself handle the litigations. In March 1928, he established the High Court of judicature consisting of a chief justice and two judges.
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